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Greater Lafayette Sewing Masks, a group of volunteers, started as a Facebook group rallying around making face masks during the coronavirus outbreak.(Photo: Photo provided)

WEST LAFAYETTE – As news spread that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might reconsider its recommendation on wearing masks – that do-it-yourself, cloth models churning out of pop-up sewing clubs across the country might help curb the spread of coronavirus – Jada Haughey was paying attention.

Haughey, who lives in West Lafayette, is a ring leader for Greater Lafayette Sewing Masks, a Facebook-powered group that claims hundreds of members since forming two weeks and has assembled more than 1,400 simple cloth masks since then.

The group has 1,200 requests in the queue, as of Tuesday.

“You are talking about everyone wearing them?” Haughey asked. “Not sure how we will handle the requests at that point.”

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Jada Haughey stands next to two storage containers for face masks, one with supplies, another for completed face masks, Monday, March 30, 2020 in West Lafayette.(Photo: Nikos Frazier | Journal & Courier)

Not as if the group, rallying around an image of a surgical-masked Rosie the Riveter, won’t try, she said.

This week, the Washington Post reported, quoting an anonymous source within the CDC, that do-it-yourself cloth masks might be added to ways the public could help stop the spread. On Tuesday, the CDC told USA TODAY that it "does not have guidance scheduled to come out on this topic" but that the current guidelines dictate individuals should wear face masks when they're sick or caring for someone who is sick with COVID-19. The CDC also recommends that healthcare providers to use "homemade masks" as a last resort to care for COVID-19 patients in the event that N95 respirators or surgical masks are not available.

That has been the consistent recommendation from the Tippecanoe County Health Department in the past month. Khala Hochstedler, Tippecanoe County Health Department administrator, said the county's advice is to stick with the CDC guidelines until they change.

"We will not recommend wearing a mask if you are not sick," Hochstedler said. "I think the biggest concern with recommending this is that people may have false sense of security because they have a mask."

Haughey said work kept going, either way, for the Greater Lafayette Sewing Masks volunteers.

“Initially I got a bit of push back from people that said that our masks aren't effective, but the requests I was getting were frantic,” Haughey said. “Nurses were using handkerchiefs to cover their face. So, our masks have to at least be better than that. No one here is saying that our masks are great, but they are better than nothing. … I wish I could wave a magic wand and provide N95 masks, but that's not an option.”

The projects sparked two weeks ago from an account in the Evansville Courier Press, in which the Deaconess Health System had asked the public to sew face masks for staff fighting coronavirus and how sewing groups cropped up around the need.

Lyle Janney, a West Lafayette resident, shared the story with Haughey and others.

“Something in my brain clicked,” Haughey said. “When it comes to sewing it's something I know how to do, and it's something that I felt was going to be extremely important in the coming days and weeks. It also seemed a good way to channel my own energy and fears while staying at home.”

Haughey started a Facebook page and had 50 people assembling masks almost immediately. Other friends helped organize and expand: Janine Lowery set up a hub in Lafayette; Jodi Taylor launched a website to streamline requests and donations; Emma Gavelis and Abbey Myers Hutton did outreach; Pau Dliz started running supplies all over town. The volunteers corps included state Rep. Chris Campbell, who posted about her progress.

Lafayette Interior Fashions, formerly known as Lafayette Venetian Blinds on Klondike Road, donated about 150 yards of fabric. Pete's Custom Printing in West Lafayette offered more than 200 T-shirts for material.

Each mask took about five minutes to make, “if you have your pattern and elastic pre-cut,” Haughey said.

“We have already supplied shelters, nursing and retirement homes, local EMTs, three different hospice companies, lots of nurses at various offices throughout our area, group homes,” Haughey said.

She said Greater Lafayette Sewing Masks continues to take requests for masks and is recruiting people looking to fill downtime during the stay-at-home order.

“The Greater Lafayette area is full of amazing people,” Haughey said. “We have come together as a group to show health care workers and at-risk neighbors that we have their back and we appreciate what they do for us every single day.”